Kean: Christie questions remain

Former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean, a longtime mentor to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, said Thursday that Christie handled a nearly two-hour press conference “extraordinarily well,” but that questions remain about the bridge controversy that has been linked to his office.

Kean said he believes Christie when the governor says he had no idea that any of his aides reportedly ordered lane closures on the George Washington Bridge until bombshell email and text message exchanges were revealed Wednesday in local news reports. Those reports also indicated the move allegedly was made as political retribution to a local mayor.

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Christie: 'I am embarrassed'

“I’ve known him since he was a teenager, and I’ll tell you one thing about him: He never has lied to me,” Kean said on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” on Thursday, immediately after Christie took questions from the press. “If he says something out loud, I’ve always believed him. So you can criticize in a lot of ways, but I don’t think you can criticize the fact that he’s not a truth teller. So I suspect he didn’t know.”

Kean said while Christie handled himself “extraordinarily well in a very difficult situation,” the allegations still raise concerns.

“I think there are still unanswered questions,” Kean said. “How that atmosphere was allowed to exist and how [now-fired staffer Bridget Kelly] could give an order to the Port Authority and have it accepted — and whether or not there are more than two or three people involved. That’s going to come out over the next weeks or even months, and I think [that] will have a big effect on Chris Christie’s future.”

Kean, also a Republican, called Christie one of the leading contenders for the GOP nomination for the presidency in 2016 and said he could continue to be, but this scandal will continue to “play out.”

Pages of electronic communications between Christie’s staff and allies were revealed Wednesday as part of an ongoing probe into the lane closures, which caused massive traffic jams in September.

Christie then announced Thursday that he had fired his deputy chief of staff, Kelly, after it was revealed she had sent an email saying it was “time for traffic problems in Fort Lee.” He also reduced the role of a close campaign adviser, who in the emails mocked the citizens of Fort Lee, N.J., who were most affected by the traffic jams and the mayor who allegedly was the target of political retribution for not endorsing Christie’s reelection bid.

Christie took questions from reporters for almost two hours, saying he was “embarrassed and humiliated” but had been unaware of what his staff had been up to, saying he had been “betrayed.” He apologized for their actions but maintained he played no role whatsoever in the scandal.